Woke up bright and early this morning to meet my team. We met up around 8am and set out towards Gaston, NC. The drive there was fun and I even snuck in an hour nap. Around mid day we met with Robbie, our community partner here (a teacher at the KIPP school). He gave us a tour of the middle school and the high school, which surprisingly was only a few steps away.
I was glad to see how honest he was about the imperfections of the KIPP model, in fact he emphasized it often saying "the KIPP model is not magic." I was surprised to find out that the funding for the school comes short to all the demands of keeping the school. Actually teachers have to at times pay out of pocket for classroom supplies. The dedication of the teachers at this school is admirable. Hearing about the amount of hours they pull outside of school to make the school run was more than I expected. There is a lot going into this system and the results seem to support it. However, it isn't magic like Robbie said. There are retention issues with teachers which is expected when they burn out so many hours to the school.
I'm excited to see the school actually running and to see the students. I want to see how far this system can motivate students. Tomorrow will be our first day working, and it will be a long day-just like it is for the students.
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